Silicon Valley | My for Better or Worse

I work in the Bay Area and while Silicon Valley is technically from Palo Alto down to San Jose, the entire Bay Area is a tech hot spot with San Francisco it’s shiny beacon. The entire Tech Industry is changing the way of life here; from rent ($3,000 for a 1 bedroom?!), to commuting (white buses everywhere), to the benefits of working…ie perks.
Gone are the days of working 8 to 5, getting paid holidays, two weeks vacation, and some type of health benefit coverage. These days companies are offering: flexible work schedules allowing you to come in when you please and leave when you need; breakfast, lunch and dinner provided; snacks galore; wellness programs; step trackers; in office massages; dry cleaning services; taxi credit; errand services; car washes; happy hours; hackathons or hackations where you can get away to focus on creating; education reimbursement; unlimited paid time off; scooters to ride around the office; pool tables; tv watching; the list goes on. My big question is, with perks like those who has time to work?
But that’s the catch… all of the perks give you a sense of relaxation and fun which in turn makes you not mind working longer hours or harder because there will be a happy hour where you can challenge your boss to a game of corn hole and everything will be right in the world.
The introduction of perks is a slippery slope. At first perks are wondered at like a side show attraction with everyone asking “is this really happening?” Then they become normal and everyone is happy and grateful to partake. Then finally they become expected and just any normal perk won’t due because we are used to the high and like good addicts we need bigger thrills. It has been interesting to watch the adoption of outlandish perks throughout the tech community. More and more companies are needing to offer perks to compete for top talent. It is going to be interesting to see where it goes next as perks become more common. But leave it up to people from the valley to innovate new ways to make work and living that much better.

Ok, I’m not going to lie, I am getting older, everyone is getting older. Every. Single. Day. I mean from the day you are born you age. It’s not some secret. It’s not like we can hide it. So, what is it about people’s fascination with not getting old? For example, a friend and I were looking at spa treatments. There is this one treatment called “The Silicon Valley Celebrity Infusion” which costs $375 and says it is a treatment to reduce fine lines and wrinkles on your face and also your neck and décolleté and also your hands. Your Hands. YOUR HANDS.

I was recently made aware of this new obsession of the fear of aging hands when someone posted an NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/fashion/weddings/raise-your-hand-for-an-engagement-selfie.html?_r=0 on Facebook about how women are now getting engaged and married later in life and in order to have wonderful engagement ring selfie pictures to post on Facebook women are now getting extensive treatments on their hands because they don’t want their hands to look spotty, veiny or boney. My first thought when reading this was “wait, boney body is ok. Boney hands are a no no, fat hands are a yes?” then “OMG, my hands are boney! Shit, does that mean I am old?”

But this new obsession with aging hands is just another drop in the bucket of the ways we criticize ourselves for doing something natural, aging. We do everything in our power to fight the forces of nature and hold onto our youth, which is probably just 1/4^th of our total existence.

At one point in time, youth was not looked upon so favorably and instead, age was cherished. Little children were dressed as adults and wore white wigs to mask their hair color. What happened to those days?

Why do I stress when I see a patch of grey hair showing through my perfectly highlighted hair? Why do I run to the dermatologist to get cream to smooth out those wrinkles? Why do I google botox and think about when I might just start doing that? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am all for trying to keep it together as long as you can, but it is a battle we are all going to lose.

My hand selfie – veins, bones and all

My for Better or Worse

Tag Archives: Silicon Valley

Perks at work

Our obsession with aging